Blind-adjusting device



(No Model.)

B. D. WASHBURN,

BLIND ADJUSTING DEVICE.

No. 335,861. Patented Feb. 9, 1886.

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lUnrr rawns BENJAMIN D. WASHBURN, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

BLIND ADJUSTING DEVICE.

EPECIPICA'IION forming part of Letters Patent No. 335,861, dated February 9, 1886.

Application filed November 13, 1885. Serial No. 182,667. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, BENJAMIN D. WAsI-I- BURN, a citizen of the United States, residing in the city of Boston, county of Suffolk, State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Blind-Adjusters, of which the following isa true and complete specification.

My invention relates to a device for securing window-blinds in any desired position, and is designed to provide a convenient and secure method of fastening the shutter so that it cannot be shaken loose by the wind-a fault common to most devices of the kind now in use.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of the lower part of a win dow whose shutters are provided with my dc- Fig. 2 is a view of the same, showing the shutter fastened wide open. Fig. 3 is a view of a modified form of the bar E.

Similar letters refer to similar parts throughout the drawings.

To the shutter B is attached a bracket, R, as shown in Fig. 1. This bracket is provided with a short arm composed of the two lips 1- and a long arm, 1". This bracket is secured to the shutter by two screws. One of these is screwed into the upright stile and the other into the bottom rail of the blind, as shown in Fig. 1. I The bracket is thus made to serve a double purpose. It furnish cs a connection for the bar E, and at the same time acts as an iron band, joining the upright stile and the bottom rail together. By this means I give strength to the blind at its weakest point.

To the short arm of the bracketr is attached the bar E by means of a bolt, which passes through a ring-eye on the end of the bar and through holes in the lips of the bracket, the end of the bar being thus secured between the lips of the bracket. By this arrangement the bar E is free to swingin a horizontal direction, but is prevented from swinging up or down by. the lips of the bracket, which grip it tightly above and below.

The bracket is so placed on the blind that the bar E, Fig. 3, when free, will hang so that its end c will bejust on a level with the bottom of the blind. By this means I prevent the bar E from falling down so that it may be caught between the bot-tom of the blind and the sill of the window when the blind is closed.

To the sill A of the window is screwed the sill-catch O, which is provided with aseries of holes, h, to receive the end of the bar E, and so hold the bar in any desired position. The sill-catch is also provided with a slot, h, Fig. 2, to receive the spur of the drop-catch P, Fig. 1, and with a swinging staple, 0, so arranged as to lock both the bar E and the drop-catch P in position, if so desired. This last is designed as an additional security, and the sillcatch may be or may not be provided with it, as may be desired.

I show two forms of the bar E-that to be used without the swinging staple and that to be used with it. The former is shown in Fig. 3, and the latter in Figs. 1 and 2. In the former case the bar is made perfectly straight, with a ring-eye at one end, and having the other end bent down to engage with the holes in the sill-catch (l, as shown in Fig. 3. In the latter case the bar E is made of a peculiar shape, so that it may pass under and be locked by the swinging staple c. This is shown best in Fig. 2, where it will be noticed that the bar is bent first in a horizontal direction at right angles to the main part of the bar, at e, and then vertically at right angles to that, at c. This part of the bar is curved slightly, so that the swinging staple may fit tightly over it and not be easily displaced.

The bar E is made with a slight spring, so that, it having been raised and sprung into place, with its end 6 in one of the holes h, its own spring will tend to keep it in position. There is also provided-a supplementary sillcatch, D, to hold the bar back against the side of the house. This catch may also be provided with a swinging staple to lock the bar E in that position.

In Fig. l the swinging staple is shown open, and in Fig. 2 closed.

To the edge of the blind is attached the dropcatch 1?, which consists of the bracket 0 and catch proper, 1. The construction is evident from the drawings, Fig. 1. This catch acts automatically by gravity, and fits into the slot h inthe side catch, 0. It is provided with a shoulder, over which may fit the swinging staple O. This drop-catch is an important part of my invention, as by its aid a blind blown by the wind will automatically fasten itself as soon as it is blown together.

5 in it, as desired; but it is made in the peculiar form shown in the figures to prevent its becoming filled up with water, ice, or dirt.

The material of which I preferably make the parts is as follows: the bar of steel, the bracket 10 of malleable iron, the drop-catch of cast-iron, the sill-catch of cast-iron, and the swinging staple of steel wire.

Having now fully described my invention, what I desire to claim, and secure by Letters 15 Patent, is as follows:

1. A blind-adjuster consisting of a rod attached at one end to a blind, and having its other end hooked and bent nearly at a right angle, in combination with a sill-catch provided with a locking-staple, substantially as described.

2. The combination of automatic drop-catch P and a sill-catch provided with a notch or hole to receive the spur of the drop-catch, and also provided with a locking-staple, substantially as described.

In Witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

BENJAMIN D. WASHBURN. Vitnesses:

WM. B. H. DOWN, M. E. PARKER. 

